Swinging door construction



Aug. 27, 1968 J. MATYAS 3,398,487

SWINGING DOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 16, 1966 INVEN TOR Joy/u MA 73446 United States Patent OffiCe 1 3,398,487 SWINGING DOOR CONSTRUCTION John Matyas, 13852 Keal Ave.,

Detroit,'Mich. .48227 Filed Sept. 16, 1966, Ser. N0. 579,968

Claims. 01. 49-239 w ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE V This invention relates to swinging door construction and particularly to light weight swinging doors commonly known as cafe-type doors, commonlyused in homes.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide a novel construction for hinging a swinging door to the side of a door opening which is readily applied to the door and the door opening; which operates quietly and efficiently; which permits removal of the door without the use of tools; which effectively holds the door in open position when desired; and which incorporates a safety stop to prevent overswing of the door into contact with an adjacent wall of the room. 1

In the drawings: 7 FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a swinging door embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view on an enlarged scale of the portion of the door shown in FIG, 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 2 showing the parts in exploded position.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 2 showing the relative position of the parts when the door is in open position.

FIG. 5 is afragmentary plan view taken along'the line 5-5 in FIG. 3. w

Patented Aug. 27, 1968 made of low friction organic plastic material such as nylon that is fixed to a metal plate 25 by means of a screw 26 that extends through an integral flange 27 of the pivot member 24. The plate 25 is in turn fastened to the bottom surface 28 of the door panel 10 by screws. a

As shownin FIG. 6, the second pivot member 24 is identical to the first pivot member 19 and includes diametrically opposed inclined surfaces 29 which are generally helical and extend downwardly to a horizontal surface 30. The surfaces 22, 29 are generally complementary to oneanother as shown in FIG. 2 so that when the door is in open position, the surfaces are in full contact.

, A lower metal pivot pin 31 fixed to the plate 25 extends downwardly through an opening 32 in the second pivot member 24. The pivot pin 31 also extends through the opening 21 of the first pivot member 19.

Each of the horizontal surfaces 23, 30 is provided with generally radially extending and axially extending projections or ribs 33, 34 at the area of juncture of the inclined surfaces 22, 29 and the horizontal surfaces 23, 30, respectively. In addition, each of the surfaces 23, 30 is provided with a radially and axially extending projection or rib 35, 36, respectively, generally centrally thereof.

- Initially, the bracket 14 and bracket 17 are fixed to the side 11 of the door opening at a predetermined distance apart. The door panel 10 with the upper pivot pin 16 thereon and the pivot member 24 thereon is then grasped and the upper pivot pin 16 is inserted upwardly into the opening of the arm 15 of bracket 14. The door panel is moved vertically upwardly to cause the lower pivot pin 31 to clear the pivot member 19 (FIG. 3) after which the door panel is permitted tomove downwardly and thereby cause the lower pivot pin 31 to engage the opening 32 in the lower pivot member 19. This completes the installation.

As the door panel 10 is swung in order to permit someone to pass through the door opening, the door panel 10 FIG. 6 is a fragmentary plan view taken along the line Y 1 66 in FIG. 3. 4

Referring to FIG. 1, the invention is adapted to be used with swinging doors such as door panels 10 that are mounted for swinging movement on the sides' 11 of-a door opening. As shown in FIG. 1, double swinging doors are provided, but as will become apparent the invention is also applicable to single swinging doors.

Referring to FIG. 1, the upper end of the door panel 10 is pivoted to the side 11 of the door opening by an upper pivot 12 and a lower pivot 13. The upper pivot 12 comprises an L-shaped metal bracket 14 that is fixed to the side 11 of the door opening and has a horizontal arm 15 extending outwardly with 'a vertical opening therein into which an upper metal pivot pin 16, fixed to the upper surfaces of the door panel 10, extends.

Referring to FIG. 2., the lower pivot 13 comprises an L-shaped metal bracket 17 that has its vertical portion fixed to the side 11 of the door opening by screws and has a horizontal portion 18 extending beneath the door 10. A first pivot member 19 made of low friction organic plastic material such as nylon is fixed on the upper surfaces of the portion 18 by a screw 20 that extends through an integral flange 20a on the pivot member 19. As shown in FIG. 5, the pivot member 19 includes a vertical opening 21 therein and a pair of diametrically opposed inclined surfaces 22 on opposite sides of the opening 21. The surfaces 22 are helical with respect to the axis of the opening 21 and extend upwardly to a generally horizontal surface 23.

The lower pivot 13 includes a second pivot member 24 and in turn the pivot member 24 is cammed upwardly by the interengagement of the surfaces 22, 29. This produces an unbalanced downward force that tends to return the door panel 10 to open position. If, however, the door panel 10 is swung until the projection 34 passes over a projection 33, then the door panel will remain in the open position by interengagement of the projections as shown in FIG. 4. By swinging the door panel in the opposite direction, the projections are caused to override and the door is moved to closed position bringing the inclined helical surfaces 22, 29 into contact.

In the event that the door 10 is swung open rapidly, the projection 34 will engage the safety stop or projection 35 while the projection 33 will engage the projection 36 to stop the movement of the door and thereby prevent overswing of the door into a position where it might contact the wall of the room and thereby cause damage to the door or to the wall.

In order to permit removal of the door panel without removing the bracket 14, the vertical distance between the horizontal portion of bracket 14 and the pivot member 19 is such that the door panel in its normal swinging movement will maintain engagement between the upper pin 16 and bracket 14 on the one hand and the lower pin 31 and the pivot member 19 on the other but may be physically raised vertically to disengage the lower pivot pin 31 from the pivot member 19.

It can thus be seen that there has been provided a swinging door construction which is readily applied to the door and the door opening; which operates quietly and efficiently; which permits removal of the door without the use of tools; which effectively holds the door in open position when desired; and which incorporates a safety stop to prevent overswing of the door into contact with an adjacent wall of the room.

I claim: V t am 1. In a swinging door construction, the combination comprising a room having a door opening, a door panel, a an upper pivot for said door panel comprising a bracket having a generally vertically extending opening therein fastened to the side ofsaid dooropening', I an upper pivot pin fastened to. said door panel and extending upwardly into said opening in said upper bracket, a lower pivot comprising v a first pivot member made of low friction organic plastic material fastened to the side of said door opening, said pivot member having a vertically extending opening therethrough and a pair of arcuate inclined'diametrically opposed surfaces and a generally horizontal surface interconnecting said inclined surfaces at the upper ends thereof, second pivot member made of low friction organic plastic material fastened to the bottom of said door panel and having a generally vertically extending opening therein and a pair of arcuate inclined diametrically opposed surfaces, a lower pivot pin extending into and aligned with the openings of said first and second pivot members, said second pivot member having a generally horizontal surface interconnecting the inclined surfaces of said 1? second pivot member, the inclined surfaces of said first and second pivot members being substantially complementary to one another, each of said first and second pivot members including generally axially extending projections at the area of juncture of the inclined surfaces and horizontal surface, said projections serving to retain the door panel in open position when the door panel is swung to cause said projections to pass over one another, the vertical distance between said first bracket member and said first pivot member being such that said door panel may be physically raised vertically to disengage the lower pivot pin from one of said pivot members without removing the bracket from its position on the door opening. 2. The combination set forth in claim 1 including an additional axially extending projection generally centrally of each said horizontal surface, said projection adapted to engage one of the first mentioned projections when the door is swung open to prevent overswing and resultant contact of the door panel with an adjacent wall.

comprising a lower pivot comprising a first pivot member made of low friction organic plastic material'adapted' to be fastenedto' the side of a door opening, l a 3T .I,

said pivot member having 'a vertically extending opening therethrough and a pair'of a'rcuate inclined diametrically opposed helical surfaces and a generally horizontal surface interconnecting said inclined surfaces at the upper ends thereof, 7 t

a second pivot member made oflow friction organic 3 "plastic material adapted to be fastened to the bottom ofza door panel and having-a generally verticallyiex tending opening therein and-a pair of arcuate-im ,clined diametrically opposed helical surfaces, 1 alower pivotpinextending'into and aligned with the openings of said first and second pivot members, i said second pivot member having a generally horizontal surface interconnecting the inclined surfaces of said-second pivot member,- 1 a the inclined surfaces of said first and second pivot members being substantially complementary to one another,

each of said first and second pivot members comprising generally axially extending projections at the area of juncture of the inclined surfaces and horizontal surface, said projections serving to retain the door panel in open position when the door panel is-swung to cause said projections to pass over one another.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3' including an additional axially extending projection generally centrally of each said horizontal surface, said projection adapted to engage one of the first mentioned projections when the door is swung open to prevent overswing and resultant contact of the door panel with an adjacent wall.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4 wherein each i of said projections extends radially.

KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner. 

